1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the presentation of media content. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods providing data driven management of media content presentation.
2. Background Art
One of the great advantages made available to the average consumer by recent advances in entertainment technology is the exceptional level of personal control the consumer can now exert over the experience of viewing or otherwise consuming entertainment content. Consider for a moment the experience of viewing a major motion picture commercially distributed on a medium such as a standard definition digital video disc (DVD) or high definition Blu-ray disc, for example. Typically, in addition to the core movie content distributed on the media disc, that disc will also include selectable playback settings enabling a consumer to customize the viewing experience to their own personal preferences. In addition, the media disc will likely include bonus content, distributed with the core movie content, such as trailers promoting other movies, or advertising content, for example.
As a result of the selectable playback settings and bonus content distributed on the media disc, the user of the disc now has considerable latitude in shaping their consumption experience. For example, depending on the display format of the presentation system on which a movie will be viewed, e.g., widescreen or letterbox, the consumer may specify their preferred viewing format, or simply allow the media disc to play back using its default settings. Similarly, although the core movie content is distributed in a default language, typically English in the United States, other language options are frequently available, so that a native speaker of another language has the option of viewing the movie with the dialogue presented in Spanish, or French, for example.
The consumer may further expand or enhance their consumption experience by choosing to view one or more elements of the bonus content provided on the media disc, but not played back as part of the default presentation process. Consequently, by taking specific actions to make changes to the playback settings away from the default parameters that would determine presentation absent such affirmative intervention, the consumer can modify the viewing experience, the audio experience, playback length, and even the composition of the content being consumed, according to their own tastes and preferences. In addition, the position of last playback of the content may be saved by the playback device, at least temporarily, allowing the consumer to stop playback of the media disc altogether, and resume playback at a later time, or later date at the point in the movie where they stopped playback.
Despite the many advantages attributed above to existing approaches to enabling consumer control over the consumption of packaged media content, there remain some significant deficiencies. For example, because of the limited memory storage present on most playback devices, the personalized playback settings selected by a consumer may be retained for only a short time or completely lost, requiring that the consumer to set once again their preferences at the next viewing of the media. This may occur because the memory storage can only reserve a limited amount of memory for storage of consumer selected parameters, so that those parameters are overwritten during future playback of another disc, for instance.
Furthermore, whatever personalized settings are saved by the playback device, are typically saved locally on the playback device, and are thus specific to the playback device rather than to the media content itself. As a result, the conventional consumption experience lacks portability in that the consumer cannot begin viewing the media content on a first playback device and have their personalized playback settings preserved if they subsequently choose to complete the viewing experience using a second playback device. The same limitation occurs for playback of different elements of the media, for example the trailers or any bonus material that the consumer may have already watched or consumed.
One conventional attempt to mitigate staleness or content obsolescence utilizes the network connectivity of some playback devices, such as Blu-ray players, for example, to periodically refresh or provide replacement content for the bonus content burned into the media disc, by delivering fresh content over the network. Although providing some benefits, this approach also imposes some inconveniences on the consumer. For example, a consumer is typically required to participate in a network registration process, as well as periodically to actively login to the network to authenticate their identity as registered user. Also, this approach does not include information about the consumer's preferences; all consumers will obtain the more fresh content at a particular point in time, whether the consumer has already seen it or not. Moreover, this approach does nothing to address the lack of portability of the personalized presentation parameters, flowing from their local storage on the playback device, and the related issues around the memory size of the playback devices and the associated shortcomings discussed previously.
Accordingly, there is a need to overcome the drawbacks and deficiencies in the art by presenting a solution enabling the consumer of a media disc to persistently and portably associate personalized presentation parameters with the media content stored on the disc, and to have those personalized presentation parameters applied across more than one playback device. In addition, it is desirable that the solution further provide the consumer with fresh relevant bonus content responsive to their personal preferences, without requiring the consumer to proactively provide a network login or otherwise expressly specify or request delivery of the bonus content.